Archive for March, 2012

Wow..37 years have passed by. My brother is officially 37 years old today. Mom has been taking care of him since he was born till now. I think mom deserve tremendous credits and praises. God Bless you Ma! My brother ‘Yang’, is born with cerebral palsy. A condition that left him physically challenged. Born with an ability to play any song by ear, his magical ‘one’ finger keyboard/piano capability was his forte. Although he is 37 years old physically, sometimes, I think having spent years at home and not much socializing with others has left him with somewhat a teenager mentality? Hahahah. He is very very attached to mom. He will throw all sorts of tantrums when he is in a ‘foul’ mood. Also loves to repeat questions to visitors. Honestly, he loves it when there are visitors. He will get real excited. There is a long list of funny character or behavior. Nevertheless, he is my brother. I have not treated him well over the years. I guess I outgrew him when I was a teenager. I remember we used to be closed when I was around 4-8 years old. Cant recall much. I also remember I used to beat and scold him when I was younger. I stopped doing that, realizing that by doing so I can t change him. He is who he is. He was born that way. He is that way partly due to our fault. So much regrets. I used to see him as a burden honestly. I still do somehow. But I ask for God’s grace to keep mom and dad healthy. God please keep Dad’s fiery temper doused. My brother has been lucky as he is healthy throughout the years. Though, I remember one year he had some boils on his elbow. God..He almost created a havoc at the HKL emergency department. Dr wanted to admit him, but we told the Dr, unless you want to risk the wrath of the other patients, we advise against to do so. Anyway..He healed up with some antibiotics and physical extraction of the pus from the infected elbow. The elbow was swollen badly. So..This year, I ll be getting him Kentucky Fried Chicken, one of his fav. Or..Both him and my sis love KFC la. Cant get him something fancy..No point. Hehehehe. God Bless ya brother. Here are some pics I have taken over the years.

Recently, the LeicaNuts got to meet up with Eric Kim, from the fame Eric Kim International Street Photographer. Eric was down in Kuala Lumpur to run a two day street photography workshop ‘Conquering Your Fear of Shooting on The Streets- Introduction to Street Photography Workshop in Kuala Lumpur on the 3rd and 4th of Mac 2012. Shannel, the Brand Manager of Leica Store invited the Nuts over for a post workshop cocktail session at the Leica Store Avenue K. I think I reached Leica Store around 8.30 pm. I was running late coz I spent some family time with my wife and daughter at the Curve first. It was a Sunday hence Leica has to come second LOL. I have always like to attend Leica’s event, they serve some really fine food. It s not like usual camera events where you have packed jam people. Here we have enthusiast and a good bunch of friends. Most of the guests knew each other. See Meng, Nick, Johan, Scott and I were there to represent LeicaNuts.

It was actually my first time meeting Eric (duhhh). LOL. Eric is a young Korean chap born is the United States. Yes, he speaks Korean if you must know. His first comment to me was “You from Australia?”. I was wearing this “I Lup Melbourne” T shirt courtesy from Mr Wayne Lee. I said ” No la..its a freebie from my cousin”. And the group sorta hit off just like that. Interesting fact about Eric, he is the tallest in his family. We decided the credit should go to American food. I was suggesting that Nathania take some American food to boost her height. So far instead of going up, she is growing sideway. Hehehehe. Eric uses a Black Leica M6 Classic with a 35 mm Summicron ASPH lens. A flash is attached to the camera as well. Its a third party flash. Cant recall the brand at the moment. Will update again once I get the brand correct later. We adjourned to The Library for some drinks. Eric and Luke Ding also joined us for a short minum session as well. I think Eric really likes Nick Yoon s work. Nick is a pretty accomplished photog as well.

We were invited to another dinner session organized by Luke the next day. We were supposed to meet at Pavillion around 7.30 pm. It was 50 50 for me as I finish working around 5 pm and by the time I settle Nathania down it should be around 8 pm. Scott and Nick were the only Nuts that joined the dinner. See Meng missed the ride and he got back home. Johan was busy. I gave Scott a call and they have just reached La Bodega around 8 tish. I took a quick bath and headed down to Pavillion. Soon, the guys arrived and we ordered some food and drinks. My tomato spag was ‘ma ma dei’ that night. Too saltish if I may add. Dinner was quick as the guys wanna head out for a shoot session. Dang..I came unprepared. All I had was the Canon 220H. Hahahaha. Scott brought his Ricoh GRD IV along. A fine fine fine camera I must say. I used it for a couple of shots that night. I must say..its pretty good and decent.

We walked along Jalan Bukit Bintang till Jalan Alor. I was taking random shots. Utilizing a slow shutter speed and rear sync flash, I was able to capture some night ‘street photos’. Eric was kind to provide some pointers to other street kakis as well. One by one he gave a short stint and quickie lessons. I had some friendly advise from him as well. I approach the subject and execute the shots too slow. Hehehe. I admire him for willing to share the craft and knowledge of street photography. A young chap he may be. A lot of critics he may have on the web. But he is truly a nice chap. I believe Eric is a very fortunate young man. He is globetrotting and giving lessons around the world. Kudos. Been visiting his blog lately. I see a lot of negative comments from trolls/haters. I ll say..Ignore them. They are probably jealous. We adjourned the night around 12.30 am I think. I got home pretty late. Eric has a 2 pm flight to London. I wish him all the best for the coming workshops. Here is one of the shot I took that night. Will post more once I get the photos from Scott 🙂

Shot from the hip level, I caught a few subjects up close 🙂 I cropped the pic and titled it ‘3Some’

I recall Siew Chee Hoong once asked me “Chyuan, you know any basketball courts that operate the flood lights past 10 pm?”, I said no as most of the courts in Kepong Baru dont. If there is one, you will be required to pay ‘rental’. I never did give much thought about the topic after that. I did ask why they play so late. Most of the guys finish work late. So they decided that the best time to play is on Friday nights. So one nice Friday nite around 11.30 pm, I was driving around the neighborhood and I passed by an old basketball court at Bukit Sri Bintang ( A place where I used to play everyday before I got injured), I saw those guys playing. I parked the car and got down. I sat down and chatted with them. All these years (3 years), I stayed off sports due the knee/shoulder injuries I had. But after watching them play for 5 minutes, I was called in to join in. Hesitant initially, I succumbed to the game. I moved slowly and carefully. The knee felt good. But the shoulder wasn’t. I feel pain each time whenever I did a big movement. The game ended around 1.30 am. I was happy coz I sweat a lot. I love physical activities. Yes. I honestly do. Went back home and slept well.

So the following week, I had to find a proper pair of shoes. Dad took over my Nike trainers and its was in a pretty sad state. My proper basketball shoes was peeling all over due to the storage. The only pair of shoes I have left was the New Balance shoes. Even that, the bottom soles were coming off. But at any rate, it suffice for the moment. The second game went well too. My confidence grew. No pain in the knee ma.. So two nights ago, I decided to give it a real test. I took the And1 shoes for repair and got ready for the game. Armed with a knee guard, I had it tight to minimize the joint movement. I moved a lot faster that night. But the shoulder pain was something I cant manage. So I had to limit above head shoulder movement. Nevertheless, I felt much better. I think I ll continue playing every week. Been lying dormant for quite sometime. Dont like it one bit. But jeez, I woke up with really sore legs on Sat. Hahahah. Lack of physical activities over the years. So there were a lot of muscle groups that got tuned that night. Even my arm muscles were aching the other day even thought the only thing I did was shoot and pass. The knee felt really good. I have to bear in mind though, it s not fully healed. The hole is still there in the bone. Its closing..But slow.. Looking forward to healthier life. Signing off. Cheers folks.